US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar said that Macedonia should become a full EU membership candidate, and an immediate candidate.

Speaking from Brussels, Escobar added that Macedonia “has been a very solid partner, both bilaterally and in multilateral fora such as NATO and the OSCE”, and that he hopes Macedonia will have a Government dedicated to fighting corruption, and its NATO and EU membership after the coming elections. Escobar said that he hopes to visit Macedonia after the May elections, in which VMRO-DPMNE is heavily favored to win against SDSM and DUI.

Macedonia’s EU accession, which was supposed to be unblocked after the imposed Prespa Treaty, is currently blocked by Bulgaria, which wants to open a Bulgarian minority issue in Macedonia. Before that, Macedonia was briefly blocked by France, over its concerns about the course of EU expansion. And before that, Greece spent decades vetoing Macedonia’s accession until the country was forced to change its name.